Jet setters

"The previous owner was a little old lady who only drove it to church." Ashley Naylor and pals have a deal for you.

Even had that classic retro sound way before retro became cool again. George Palathingal puts the wayback machine into reverse.

For every Australian band that goes ballistic - currently measured by musical appearances on iPod advertisements - there are hundreds that face a reality far removed from the hype, glamour and record sales that often accompany success.

Worse still, some of these latter bands should have been contenders, but failed to capture enough of the record-buying public's collective imagination. They now have to settle for the noble but financially unrewarding consolation that is critical acclaim.

Melbourne retro-rockers Even are one such band. But their singer-guitarist, Ashley Naylor, isn't bitter.

"Well, there's no reason to be bitter," he says. "I mean, I could sit around saying, 'Gee, I wish I'd sold a million records like Jet,' but the fact remains I can't sing like [Jet frontman] Nic Cester. And I'm not 24, I'm 34.

"I don't lose sleep over these issues. I have a good life and I enjoy my music."

However, Naylor was 24 when he formed Even with a couple of mates, drummer Matt Cotter and bass player Wally Kempton. The band's tour plan speaks volumes about their laid-back attitude and their career path.

"We're spacing it out in our usual fashion," Naylor says. "Doing a series of weekends as opposed to going away for two weeks straight."

A major reason for U2's success was their incessant touring in the mid-'80s, especially through the US. Does Naylor think Even's casual attitude may have held them back?

"It's afforded us some kind of longevity, that we haven't gone so flat-out that we got suddenly sick of touring or sick of each other," he says.

Also, Even have made only four proper albums in 10 years, although they also released a compilation, The Street Press Years, which provides an excellent introduction to the band.

"Four albums and three EPs," Naylor says. "It's not the kind of strike rate I would have anticipated. I would have thought we'd be more prolific in that time."

Why does he think they weren't?

"We all have pretty varied and rich lifestyles that aren't dictated totally by being in Even," Naylor says. "We'd really like the band to be more full-time, but you can't expect people down the mall who are buying the latest top 40 records to sorta prick their ears up at something that might take a bit more time to get into."

The new Even album, Free Kicks, justifies time spent well, thanks to its inviting, instantly classic rock riffs, a certain retro-pop swagger and vintage songcraft. Despite its unapologetic debt to '60s and '70s rock, it has a real freshness.

"Well, everyone tells me that," Naylor says. "We didn't sit down and say, 'Let's make an album that reinvigorates our career or makes us all realise what a f---ing great band we are' because we know how good we are.

"I think that's one of the reasons people are responding favourably to the record. Because the current music scene is absolutely bankrupt, it's totally empty. If you think about the people who are making big bucks ... I've got more talent in my arse."

To whom is he referring?

"People like Justin Timberlake ... Once a Mouseketeer, always a Mouseketeer."

Is it that you have no time for pop music?

"Bands like the Vines and Jet have a dedication to songcraft which a lot of people in the top 40 don't - they just have a dedication to getting on Pepsi commercials."

Bands such as Jet, like Even, are unashamedly fond of sounds from a bygone era. Does Naylor think, perhaps, that there's nothing original left to make?

"The only way you can be original is to put your own imprint on your lyrics and try and write your own tunes. Take a band like the Scissor Sisters, for example. They sound like Elton John on angel dust. I mean, heaven forbid, I've never actually consciously stolen a chord progression to write a song, but there's only so many chords to go around."

As for the question of getting older in music, Naylor says he "saw three artists last year who are all over 40 and I was totally inspired and invigorated on every occasion - that was Prince, David Bowie and the Rolling Stones".

"When you've made a legacy like those three, it inspires people like me to go to those concerts thinking, 'Man, I'm a f----ing hack.' It inspires me to go the next level of musicianship."